Health experts, researchers and policymakers from around the world are meeting in Accra this week under the Collaborative Care for Cardiometabolic Disease (CREATE) programme, as part of a coordinated push to strengthen the response to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) across sub-Saharan Africa.
The four-day engagement, running from April 27 to 30, 2026, also marks the launch of a new review series on diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa by The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, with deliberations focused on closing the gap between research findings and health policy in practice.
Speaking at the opening session, Yakubu Seidu Adam, Chief Executive Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), described the gathering as a defining moment for international collaboration against cardiometabolic diseases. He called on corporate and public stakeholders to increase investment in research that could reduce preventable deaths, particularly among younger populations.
Prof Henrietta O’Connor of the University of Leicester drew attention to the wider impact of the CREATE programme, which has supported the training of researchers, clinicians and community health workers in Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique. She announced the launch of the Diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa series in the journal, calling it a critical tool for guiding policy and real-world interventions.
Prof Alfred Edwin Yawson of the University of Ghana reinforced the urgency of the challenge at the national level, noting that six of Ghana’s top ten causes of death are linked to NCDs. He commended the CREATE approach for empowering patients to manage their conditions beyond clinical settings and pointed to the government’s Free Primary Healthcare programme as a key lever in scaling NCD care delivery.
The meeting also highlighted the World Health Organisation (WHO) role in expanding NCD services at the primary healthcare level, including improved disease surveillance and the deployment of digital tools such as a national NCD tracker and a diabetes registry.
The CREATE programme is a partnership between KBTH, the University of Leicester, the University of Kenya and Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique, with a focus on developing scalable, collaborative care models for cardiometabolic diseases including diabetes and hypertension.
